The Sapphire Alchemist
by Dragon of Venus
Summary: Mari Storm. A 15 year old aspiring alchemist. And although she can't remember it, she's pretty close with the Elrics.... rated for slightly mature stuff. r&r!
1. Prologue

(July 25th, 1:30 am)

(sniffle) Poor Nina... my brother woke up and came into my room while I was watching the last few minutes of FMA tonight (he's 8). he came in just before Scar ... y'know. when he sees Ed and Al running down the street, he says "Yay. It's Ed." he's so cute when he's half-conscious. :) aaanyway...

my newest addition to the DoV family is about to be born.

I don't own FullMetal Alchemist, although someone I don't know does. Mari is the only character I own. and those kids on the street. oh, and Mari's parents. oh, and I can't forget about... (this could go on a while)

The Sapphire Alchemist

_Prologue_

A girl walked through the streets of Star Rock Valley, humming softly to herself and looking up into the sky. She considered herself a loner, always had been and always would be. Her mother had died in an accident when she was ten, and then just two years ago, her father was killed in a fire in her town. She had recently turned fifteen, wandering the streets of whatever cities she would happen to pass through for two years now.

As the girl was lost in her thoughts, she came across the sound of a small child's crying. She looked to where she heard the noise, and saw a few kids who didn't look much older than five years old sitting on the street. Among them was a girl, her face buried in her hands crying.

The teenaged, light-blue haired girl kneeled down next to the group of kids and put a hand on the crying girl's shoulder. "What's wrong?" she asked softly.

The girl looked down and held up a doll whose arm had ripped off. "She broke," the girl sobbed.

The older girl looked at her sympathetically. An idea suddenly occured to her. "Hey," she said, "Do you still have her other arm?"

"I have it!" said a boy. He then held up the broken-off arm of the doll. The girl smiled.

-

After a minute or two, she had traced a somewhat complex circular design in the dirt on the ground. "The doll, please," she said. The younger girl handed her the doll, and the boy gave her the arm. She took the pieces and placed them in the center of the circle. "Now watch this," she smiled. She gently touched the blue stone on her choker necklace, then put her hand on the circle, a blue light suddenly engulfing it. After a moment, it stopped. The girl picked up the doll, and handed it back to the child in one piece.

She gasped and hugged her doll. "Thank you, miss!" she exclaimed.

The older girl smiled. "No problem," she replied sweetly. "By the way, my name is Mari."

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I tried not to make that loner line sound too much like Everybody's Fool (_Never was and never will be,_ that part). how'd I do?

R&R!


	2. Chapter 1: FullMetal vs Sapphire

(August 4, 3:25 am)

yea. up at 3 am. I have no life.

oh boy oh boy oh boy, FullMetal vs. Flame is on Monday! I love that one! (Phantom Thief, too. so funny! "I'M GONNA TURN YOU ALL INTO FISH!" :) Ed.)

I do not own FMA, except for Mari.

chapter one- FullMetal vs. Sapphire

"...Uh, brother?"

Ed Elric looked over at his younger brother. "Hm?"

"What are we supposed to be looking for again?" Al asked.

Ed put his hands behind his head as he walked. "That hothead Mustang said there was a girl here in Star Rock Valley claiming to be a State Alchemist. And meanwhile, no one there's ever even heard of her."

Al looked at him in surprise. "Can you do that?"

Ed shrugged. "Eh... Doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd consider illegal. I mean, it's just a white lie."

_What?_ "A white lie? You call saying you're in the military a white lie? Brother, that's ridiculous!"

Ed opened his mouth to speak, but got hit in the back of the head with something and fell over before he could.

Al's eyes widened. "Brother!"

The older Elric sat up with a groan and put a hand on his head. "What the heck was that?'!" he said irritably.

"Come on, guys! Give that back!" a voice shouted, shortly followed by two boys and one girl all about the same age.

Ed picked up the thing that whacked him, and saw that it was nothing more than a doll. _You gotta be kidding me,_ he thought. Then he saw the girl. "Hey, uh... this yours?" he asked.

The girl nodded, taking back her doll. Although it wasn't damaged, she was still mad. "Thanks a lot, you two," she said to the two boys, "I bet you only did that 'cause Mari just fixed her!"

"You rang?" came another sudden voice. A blue-haired girl then walked up to the kids smiling.

As he stood up, Ed suddenly got a suspicious look in his eyes as he examined the girl more closely. The girl stared back at him. Then after a moment, she bent down to the kids' level. "Hey, guys," she said, "Why don't you go play over there for a sec? And I don't wanna see any more toys being stolen, alright?"

The kids nodded. "Okay," said the girl, "Thanks."

The teenager smiled. "No problem." As the children walked away and she stood back up, her face became more serious than it had been before. "The military sent you, didn't they?" she asked.

Without answering her question, Ed asked, "So you're the so-called Sapphire Alchemist, huh?"

The girl turned her head aside. "That's me," she responded, "Of course, my friends just call me Mari."

"Right," Al spoke up, "Mari Storm. That _is_ what Colonel Mustang said your name was."

Mari looked at the two, and was suddenly struck with realization. Then she walked up to Al. "I've heard about you," she said, "You must be the FullMetal Alchemist, am I right?"

Here we go.

Al's face fell. "Uhh, not exactly," he said, nodding his head to his side. Mari looked down.

Ed was crouched into a ball, almost in tears.

Mari gasped, covering her mouth in embarrassment. Then she looked confused. "I don't get it."

Ed shot up. "What's there not to get?'!" he shouted.

"Your name. Apparently, you're the 'FullMetal Alchemist,' and yet..." There was a small pause before Mari went on. "...I don't see anything full _or_ metal about you." Then she took another second to look him over. "... _Especially_ your height."

Uh...oh...

"OH YEAH? WELL, YOU'RE ONE TO TALK! I'M ALMOST SEVENTEEN, YA KNOW, AND I DOUBT YOU'RE ANY OLDER THAN ME, YA SHRIMP!" Ed shouted quickly, panting afterwards to catch his breath. Mari closed her eyes and crossed her arms.

". . . I'm fifteen."

Edward almost instantly did an anime fall. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?'! YOU'RE ALMOST TWO YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME AND YOU'RE, LIKE, EXACTLY MY HEIGHT!'?"

"...Depends," said Mari, calm as ever, "How tall _are_ you?"

Ed paused. "...Uhh, I dunno, about... four-foot-ten?"

Mari shrugged. "Okay then... Five feet even."

Al's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

"No lie."

Alphonse ran over to his brother and held him by his arms.

"Lemme at 'er lemme at 'er lemme at 'er!" Ed was shouting, flailing his arms in hopes of Al letting him go so he could beat Mari up.

"Brother, calm down!" said Al.

"Your brother's right, kid," Mari said, walking away, "Get a grip."

Ed growled. Suddenly, he squirmed out of Al's arms and flung himself onto Mari, knocking her over flat on her face.

"OW!"

"Ha! Shoulda seen that one comin', huh, Storm?"

Mari suddenly got a sly smile on her face. "You're right, FullMetal... 'Course, you should've seen _this_ coming, too!" She then thrust her leg right into Ed's--

"AAAAUUUUGGGHHH!"

He went flying backwards, landing on his back almost right at Al's feet. Al, by the way, was pretty much petrified. Well, that, and feeling pretty lucky that it wouldn't happen to him at the moment. (I'll give ya one guess where he got kicked.)

"A- Are you okay, brother?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah," Ed replied in a high-pitched, pained voice, "I'm just fine."

". . . Well, that takes care of that," Mari said quickly, before running away from the Elrics.

"Oh no you don't!" Ed tried to sit up so he could transmute something and stop Mari. But, even though his voice was back to normal, his body was still recovering. When he tried to move, his legs almost went numb, and he fell back down.

Boy, that girl could kick.

"Oh, yes I do," called Mari.

Ed growled. "GET BACK HERE, YOU JERK! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET! HEY, DID YOU EVEN HEAR ME? I SAID COME BACK HEEERE!" he screamed, obviously rather fast.

"Brother!" Al shouted, "Get a hold of yourself! You're older than her, don't let her get to you."

Ed thought about this for a moment. The kid had a point. "...Yeah. You're right, Al," he sighed. Then he got an almost evil look on his face. "I got a plan for the next time I see that little fraud anyway..."

Al sweatdropped. "That's... not exactly what I meant."

Ed shrugged. "I got your point, though. Let's go, Al."

"Yeah," his brother nodded, "We should find a place to stay for the night. And who knows? Maybe we'll see Mari again."

"Exactly." Ed sat up... and fell right back down. Al grabbed him up.

"We should see someone about that, too."

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I'm gonna try and post two chapters at a time. I have chapter 2 ready, but I'm still working on 3. so, until I write again, r&r!


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